Is this live sand any good?

[bleedinorange]

It is made by CaribeSea. I can get it at PetsMart.

 

Doesn't this stuff have a shelf life of 9 months? Is this considered live sand??

 

 

http://www.carib-sea.com/Carib1.htm

[1fish2fish]

I believe CaribSea sells both raw aragonite and live sand. If it is livesand it will say so on the bag. I am a little leary of bagged LS. This is primarily because you have no clue how long it has been sitting in that bag. It should have a bagged on and best before date on it though. Check for them.

 

I like getting LS from the tanks of a reputable LFS. the only issue there is that any disease or parasite problem they have.. you have.

[Tempest]

I used it in 2 of my tanks (6 galon and 20 gallon). I had a very short cycle (sand + cured rock = 8 days ) and the sand looks nice IMO. Make sure when you buy it that the bag is filled with fluid. If the sand is dry or clumpy then it probably isn't any good. The sand has plenty of bacteria, but no critters so you might want to seed it with live sand from an established tank or buy critters from www.ipsf.com.

[jaguilar]

like 1fish2fish said, caribsea makes both livesand and dry sand. the petsmarts in my area only carry the dry stuff. but i bought the bag of livesand from my lfs, and it is the one filled with fluid. worked great for a quick cycle. but if you buy the stuff that's dry, you will have to seed it with live sand from a reliable source. if it's the live stuff seeded with bacteria and all kinds of goodies, it will say so on the bag. otherwise, you're just buying dry sand.

[Isaka]

Make sure that the bag you get has some water in it, that means it is the live sand. You won't have all the critters that other live sand has, but you will have a great bacteria base. Perfectly fine for a reef tank.

[trmiv]

the live stuff is great. with cured rock, my tank cycled in under a week. plus, it looks great.

[bleedinorange]

I went to my lfs and the caribsea bag had water in it. I really did not know the difference. The one at my petsmart is dead or dry sand.

[MillerLite]

I third or fourth the comments on the CaribSea live sand. I used it to start my 7 gallon nano. I had to sell my 30 gallon established tank before I moved and I cant seem to find a LFS willing to sell live sand around the DC area. This is the next best thing. ALso cycled my tank in about a week or so. But as mentioned, no critters so you will need to order or find a LFS willing to sell it to you.

[nanocat]

Ditto all of the above, but you don't really have to order critters. You can just ask to swap a cup of sand from someone with an established reef to help seed your arag-alive sandbed. I've done this 3 times for diversity, and now I have plenty of spaghetti worms, bristle worms, stomatella snails, etc.

[LJ23]

But aren't the caribsea "live sand" come in only 20lb bags? I was going to purchase 1 for my 10gal tank.

 

Is 20lbs too much for a 10gal?

[fishfriend]

I believe that Petco also sells it in 10 lb bags.

[LJ23]

So is 20lbs too much for a 10gal?

[aldive]

I have used a whole bag in a 10.

[LJ23]

A whole bag as in 20lb or 10lb bags?

 

And, how deep was the sand bed?

 

 

 

 

-Nick

[aldive]

The big bag and the sand level is about 2 inches.